Shaun Munro reviews Mortal Kombat 11…
NetherRealm Studios has rightly carved out a fine rep for themselves in recent years as the developers of the most meticulous, ambitious and holistic fighting games on the market, as cemented with the release of 2017’s incredible Injustice 2. And while Mortal Kombat 11 feels like a slightly more complacent package overall, its broad appeal to hardcore fans and casuals alike is undeniable.
For the most part MK11 is a business-as-usual offering for the franchise – and that’s no bad thing. In an age where hand-wringing over “tasteless” violence in video games is more pervasive than ever, there’s something refreshing about NetherRealm’s refusal to change tack, to press on with delivering the creatively gnarly fatalities and bone-crunching slow-mo attacks the series has become famed for.
And in terms of its core gameplay, Mortal Kombat has never felt (or looked) better. Just as NetherRealm did with Injustice 2, the core fighting mechanics have been simplified and streamlined for maximum accessibility, yet without delivering a watered-down core experience.
It is incredibly easy for anyone to simply pick up and play MK11, but for enthusiasts and pro players, there’s also a solid level of strategy and subtle depth to all the grisly carnage. Especially enticing is the addition of Fatal Blow, a devastating cinematic attack sequence which can be deployed when your health reaches critical levels. It can change the tide of a match significantly, yet crucially avoids feeling cheap – the blue shell it ain’t.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect across the studio’s fighting games is their peerless devotion to well-crafted story modes, given the tendency for brawlers to settle for soulless punch-fests with low-budget, cobbled-together slideshows inserted in-between stages. Indeed, MK11 boasts a ludicrously entertaining 4-5 hour story that feels like two mega-budget blockbuster movies stapled together.
The plot is fundamentally nonsense, of course, with time-manipulating big bad Kronika bringing about timey-wimey circumstances which force many of the series’ most iconic fighters to fight alternate versions of themselves. It is wonderfully unapologetic fan service in action, and though the internal logic doesn’t hold up to much scrutiny, it does make for a giddily fun time – as long as you can stomach Ronda Rousey’s hysterically bad voice-over performance as Sonya Blade.
There are certainly times where a little too long passes without the player re-gaining control of the action, and it’s also a shame that most of the story’s cut-scenes are artefact-heavy FMV rather than rendered in-engine, but for the most part the story maintains NetherRealm’s high standard of glossy, knowingly daft entertainment.
If you’re craving more character-specific narrative elements, you’ll need to tackle the game’s Klassic Towers – effectively an arcade mode where, after battling several fighters in succession, you’ll unlock the respective combatant’s ending. Sadly, these endings couldn’t be further from the high-quality cinematics of the story mode, with the low-effort, minute-long slideshows only barely proving worth the bother.
But the mode designed to keep players coming back is Towers of Time, a more complex, multi-faceted spin on the typical tower-climbing slug-fests the series is known for. An added layer of strategy is introduced as players have to contend with challenging fight conditions – such as being poisoned, set on fire, and having your special moves nerfed – while being able to equip assists to (hopefully) combat these handicaps.
It’s a creative loop for the genre, albeit one that often verges too eagerly on the punishing for its own good, especially given the reliance on players earning these assists while playing. With some of the hairier fights scarcely winnable without having precisely the right Konsumable, it certainly invites ennui after some time – though NetherRealm has promised to patch the difficulty in the near-future.
However, it has to be said that the game as a whole is certainly too aggressively focused on the player acquiring an exhausting excess of currency systems. This is in order to purchase not only the aforementioned assists, but also customisation upgrades, concept art and even fatalities.
For someone with little interest in live service systems in fighting games, it certainly elicited the occasional groan – no matter how gorgeous the new loot-filled Krypt might be (even including a cameo from Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who reprises his role as Shang Tsung from Paul W.S. Anderson’s 1995 movie).
Granted, if you’re committed to hoovering up every last unlockable the game has to offer, the ability to simulate AI battles at high-speed lessens the busy-work somewhat, even if listlessly whizzing through AI fights with only the occasional human input – likely while you’re watching Netflix or reading a book – doesn’t exactly make for a quality gaming experience.
Elsewhere, there are also the expected multiplayer modes, both locally and online. Needless to say, this player summarily had his ass handed to him in almost every online battle, but thanks to slick, expedient menus and a generally lag-free experience, playing online never felt like a hassle. If you’re fed up of being pummelled, you can also pit your own A.I. fighters against another player’s, allowing you to just sit back and watch the mayhem unfold.
Aesthetically, MK11 is another gorgeous winner for NetherRealm, even if not every character design will work for every fan (though I certainly appreciated the more modest, realistic attire afforded to the game’s female fighters). The texture quality and performance, meanwhile, are absolutely first-rate, and never once in countless hours of play on an O.G. PS4 did I encounter any stutter or noticeable frame-rate dips, as is especially crucial in the fighting genre.
The visuals are ripe and marrow-rich throughout, making the most of not only the bloody battles themselves, but also the beautiful environments they take place in. The only slight technical bugbear is the disappointingly long loading times, at least on the original PS4, where dying can result in over 30 seconds before you’re back in the game (especially in the story mode, where you’re forced to sit through the last snippet of cut-scene once again).
By their nature fighting game sequels in established franchises are a restless exercise in compromise, of trying to appeal to the most ardent fans while opening the door for new players, and in that respect MK11 nails the balance brilliantly for the most part. The tutorial is shockingly in-depth and shames most other entries into the genre, while the game pivots lithely between dew-eyed nostalgia for its most iconic characters and giving newer combatants the spotlight. This is even with a roster that, at launch, does feel a little on the svelte side.
It remains to be seen how the game’s puzzling emphasis on grind will be managed post-launch, but players are still able to get plenty out of this fighter while largely skirting around its soulless collect-a-thon shenanigans. NetherRealm bolsters their penchant for delivering the most accessible and effort-filled fighting games around, even if Mortal Kombat 11 does feel a little overstuffed with Things To Do.
Pros:
+ Brutally violent, ultra-slick gameplay will please fans and newbies alike.
+ Story mode is a goofy blast.
+ Terrific sound and visuals.
+ Addictive online multiplayer.
+ A healthy suite of content.
Cons:
– Disappointingly small roster.
– Sluggish progression and daunting excess of systems.
– Character endings are glorified slideshows.
Rating: 8/10
Reviewed on PS4 (also available for Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC).
Shaun Munro – Follow me on Twitter for more video game rambling.
